Steve Costello – Houston’s chief resilience officer, aka “flood czar” – needed less than a second to answer how to spend a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure for America. “I would want about $3 billion for the city of Houston and Harris County for the bayous,” he said. Any Houstonian who’s dried couch or car… Continue reading

Experts in hurricane risk and economics said if Ike had hit landfall 30 miles to the southwest of where it did – which would have put it centered on top of the ship channel – damages easily could have exceeded $100 billion. Since Ike, billions more in petrochemical investment has poured into the Houston region,… Continue reading

“Share the road” might be a mantra for bicyclists, but it’s proving a tough sell in some parts of the Houston area, while being embraced in others. Two local events, a week apart, illustrate the challenge of integrating bike culture into a car-centric metropolitan region. The image of hundreds of bicycles zipping along brand-new freeway… Continue reading

Up-to-date, verifiable counts for cyclist fatalities can be tough to obtain, but  online databases and Houston Chronicle archives show that nine bicyclists were killed this year through Nov. 29 in the Houston area, excluding crashes in rural areas of counties adjacent to Harris County. That compares to 14 in 2014. Even with the likely decline,… Continue reading

The Federal Railroad Administration has eliminated from consideration both paths that would have carried the trains to Houston’s central business district. The agency is overseeing environmental approvals for the multibillion-dollar line proposed by Texas Central Partners. The decision essentially gives Texas Central “our target landing zone,” CEO Tim Keith said, although the company still must… Continue reading

Slumped in his seat, earphones firmly in place, Elijah Taylor closes his eyes as his bus bounces rapidly down Washington Avenue toward downtown. Some bounces are more severe than others because the driver is speeding along, making great time at the expense of a smooth ride. As a result, Taylor is running a little early… Continue reading

Some of the company’s drivers, meanwhile, say Uber is squeezing them, saturating the market to the point that it’s impossible for most of them to make a living wage. “They want to own Houston, and they will,” said one driver, who asked not to be identified because she feared the company would disable her account.… Continue reading

“Houston is really the envy of a lot of cities who have thought about this,” said Joseph Kopser, co-founder and CEO of RideScout, an Austin company that compiles transportation options such as bus scheduling, bike-share locations and traffic information onto a single smartphone map. Transit experts are watching how Metro educates riders and promotes the… Continue reading

After a successful stint operating service between Dallas and Austin, Danza, the founder and CEO of Vonlane, is expanding his fleet and offering trips between Houston and Dallas starting Monday. One-way tickets on buses replete with amenities are $69, with service aimed at business travelers. The company is one of a handful looking for a… Continue reading

The “creepo” who agreed to pick up Mel Smith about a month ago from a Midtown bar probably never got a chance to put her location into the Uber app. “I always look at the picture,” Smith said of the photo that pops up when she requests a ride via Uber, which connects drivers with… Continue reading